Oddbin’s anti-LOCOG stunt rewards Pepsi-drinking, Nike-wearing, MasterCard-using customers
By Faye Oakey on Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Wine merchant, Oddbin’s is planning a counter-strike for the next three weeks, highlighting the extreme rules against certain words associated with the Olympics enforced by Locog. This campaign, and associated stunt is a really clever tactic to use the Olympics (CENSORED) to benefit the brand – without breaking the rules.
Oddbin’s came up with the idea as a “marketing counter-strike in defiance of the labyrinthine restrictions placed on businesses by the Olympics’ legion of brand guardians”.
The window displays all have cheeky marketing messages, such as; ‘We can’t mention the event. We can’t mention the city. We can’t even mention the year. At least they can’t stop us telling you about this: Rococco Rose £17’, and will be supported with a 30% discount for customers who wear or display a total of eight items from non-sponsor brands, including Nike and Pepsi. Anyone can benefit from the discount at any one of Oddbins 35 branches if they are wearing Nike trainers and have in their pocket a set of Vauxhall car keys, an RBS MasterCard, an iPhone, a bill from British Gas and a receipt for a Pepsi bought at KFC.
Ayo Akintola, managing director at Oddbins, said to The Drum: “The London Olympics is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the whole of the UK’s business community to come together to support our fantastic athletes and celebrate an awe-inspiring festival of sport.
“But thanks to LOCOG (London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games), any business without the tens of millions of pounds required to join the cabal of multinational brand partners for the Games are reduced to the status of beggars on the gilded streets of the Olympic movement.
“We have taken steps to ensure our planned window displays do not flout any of these asinine rules, but we are doing this primarily to highlight the absurdity of the fact that the British people – who are paying for these games – are at the same time being subject to ridiculous rules. Even though our window designs will be within the rules, we would not be surprised if LOCOG goes loco.”